The Angels Will Not Care - Tapa dura

The Shamus Award-winner's fifth novel puts Alaskan private investigator Cecil Younger on board a first-class cruise ship afflicted by a series of unexplained deaths, where he suddenly becomes a suspect in a homicide.

inning author John Straley comes a masterfully plotted, stunningly original new mystery as beautifully stark and delightfully unpredictable as the Alaskan landscape he has so perfectly captured.

Trouble is Cecil Younger's business. As a private investigator, it comes with the territory. But lately the kind of trouble he's seen is definitely not good for business. Getting blamed for a friend's suicide has hurt both his conscience and his reputation. And things have gone straight to hell since then. His most thrilling case of late: surveillance of a lawyer's chicken coop to see who's stealing her fowl.

Enter Sonny Walters of the Great Circle Cruise Lines, whose first-class ship has a first-class problem. It seems there's some controversy surrounding the ship's doctor. More than that, Mr. Walters won't say, except that he'll give Cecil free rein--as well as free passage and an unlimited bar tab--to get to the bottom of the unsavory rumors. Younger jumps at the opportunity. <